Iceberg
by nikki.02
Summary: Now there was a gigantic iceberg between them that would never melt. A case brings the two closer, builds the tensions between them, and ultimately offers a chance for their relationship to strengthen and slowly melt the ice. DL Post LRC
1. Frozen

Iceberg

_Now there was a gigantic iceberg between them that would never melt. A case brings the two closer, offers a chance for their relationship to strengthen, and slowly melts the ice. DL_

The day had started out like any other. Lindsay's alarm clock had woken her up at 5:45 A.M. like any other workday and instead of repeatedly hitting the snooze button like any normal person, she immediately got up and headed for the bathroom.

As she started brushing her teeth, her phone buzzed and vibrated her nightstand. Incoming text message from Mac. Flipping open the cover, Lindsay saw the address for a DOA on the Upper East Side and who else was working the case: Stella and…Danny Messer. Okay, awkward.

With her toothbrush still hanging out of her mouth, she slowly took a seat on her bed and her mind brought her back to the hallway outside of the interrogation room in the precinct after she and Danny had worked the dead vodka spokes model case.

"I can't…do this." Judging by the look on Danny's face, Lindsay could tell that she was confusing him. The whole week, he'd been subtly dropping hints on why she didn't show up on their date. She tried to casually drop the subject, but afterwards, there was always an uneasy silence hanging in the air.

"Can't do what?"

"Be in a…relationship…with you,"

Those words had hurt both her and the man she had said them to. She'd spent her free moments coaching herself and deciding what to say, rehearsing the lines over and over, but when the moment finally came, the words wouldn't come. It wasn't that she didn't _want_ to be in a relationship with him, because she really did want to. She just _couldn't_.

Danny tried to cover up his shock, "I'm just talking about some dinner, a few laughs—"

Lindsay couldn't say anything. She would have loved to go out to dinner with him, laugh with him, but she couldn't. She gave him a look and he immediately drew back, "I just…I just have some….stuff to take care of."

Danny nodded, his disappointment obvious, "Well, I'm here if you need me, okay?"

That time would have been appropriate with a hug, but instead, all she said was "I'm sorry…maybe we should both just do our jobs," and walked away. She walked away from the man she honestly wanted to be with and back into the nightmares that had haunted her for years.

**CSI:NY**

Lindsay was out of the door by 7:00 A.M. and took the subway to the crime scene, looking over the pictures of the scene so far sent to her phone. When she arrived at the scene, she processed the body with Stella, took pictures, collected evidence, all the routine things.

Their work was interrupted by Stella's pager, which was beeping like crazy.

"Lindsay, could you and Danny take this case? Mac says he and Hawkes need some help in Central Park."

"Sure…where is Danny anyway?"

Stella shrugged as she walked away, "Why don't you call him? You have his number don't you?"

Lindsay sighed and returned to processing the scene. She and Danny hadn't worked a case in almost a month, only exchanging a small wave or greeting when passing in the halls. She was interrupted by approaching footsteps. Danny.

"What do we got, Lindsay?"

Lindsay. Not Montana, not Linds. Just her name. She wouldn't admit it, but she almost missed her nickname, it always broke the ice, eased the tension between them. But now there was a gigantic iceberg between that would never melt.

She calmly briefed him on the victim, "Jade Littlewood. You're looking at Hathaway Prep's Student Body Secretary, swim team, and orchestra member."

Danny snapped on a pair of gloves and bent down to get a closer look, "Involved. Sounds like she was on the fast track to an Ivy League. Signs of blunt force trauma…lacerations to the face…some bruising on the shoulders…a beating maybe?"

"Maybe, I'm going to see Sid for the autopsy report."

"I'll make sure this evidence gets back to the lab."

They both awkwardly nodded, then returning to their job.

"And Linds?" Lindsay almost grinned when she heard the first half of her name. "Don't let Sid go to his creepy place."

Her smile widened and walked towards the car. She could feel the ice thawing.

**CSI:NY**

The rain hit the crime lab's window with small thuds. It was pouring in New York City.

For the rest of the day, Danny had spent his time processing evidence while Lindsay was with Adam in Trace or Reconstruction. They'd found Jade Littlewood in the hallways of Hathaway Prep, an awfully obvious place to hide a body. There had been minimal trace, only a bite mark on the neck and bruising around her shoulders. Her clothes showed nothing obvious, so there wasn't much else they could do.

The rain started pouring around mid-afternoon, the sky had turned to a dark gray.

It was almost as if night had taken over day. Lindsay shivered as she headed to the break room for a coffee. "It's pouring pretty hard," She turned around and saw Danny standing behind her, holding out a couple reports in a manila folder.

"Yeah," she leaned against the counter, stirring her coffee. "So…any leads?"

"Yeah, actually," Danny passed her the folder. "That guy. Did some time in juvie for plagiarism. Other than that, nothing. Zip. Nada. So you up for a ride?"

They sat in silence as they rode to the suspect's apartment. The rain was coming down as hard as ever. Their suspect's name was Nick Buchanan who lived on the Upper East Side as well.

"Detectives. Come in. Awful weather isn't it?"

"Save us the formalities," Lindsay said. She wasn't in the mood for being lied to. "Tell us about your relationship with Jade Littlewood."

"We had a lot of classes together and we're both in the school orchestra. I'm Student Body President and she was Secretary. The four executives do a lot of work together. Why? What happened?"

"She's dead," she stated flatly.

"W-what? Jade? She's…dead?" Nick covered his face with his hand. "N-no! That can't be possible!"

"Where were you last night at around eight?"

"I was with the Treasurer, Samantha Ting, w-we were just discussing ideas for the upcoming Formal. W-wait, Jade's _dead_?"

Danny held out a picture of the autopsy photo. "We're sorry for your loss. Were you two close?"

"Not romantically involved, if that's what you're asking Detective. She had a boyfriend." Danny and Lindsay both glanced at each other. Crime of passion?

"This is the part where you give us a name," Danny said.

"Steve Banks. I knew him pretty well, I can't imagine him doing anything like this," Nick scribbled down a phone number. "Please, keep me updated."

Danny nodded and took the slip of paper, "Will do. Thanks for your time."

"So…guilty, not guilty, what's the verdict?" Danny asked as they got into the elevator.

"I don't know," Lindsay confessed. "His shock seemed real and he seems to genuinely care about what's happening…but…"

"Anyone can do anything to anybody," Danny finished. She nodded. The iceberg had returned along with the awkward tension.

"Whoa!" the two stopped in their tracks as they stepped into the lobby. The rain had started coming down so hard that it had turned into a torrential downpour. The sky didn't even have the slightest hint of light and it was only 4:00 P.M.

"No way are we going back out there," Danny said. "We'll be soaked the moment we step outside!"

"Come on, we've got to go see if we have any other leads and if Nick's alibi checks out."

"Ah fine…" Danny sighed, but then stopped in his tracks as he saw an Asian girl walking through the lobby, heading for the elevator.

"A bit young, even for you, Messer," she scoffed.

Danny chuckled, "Nah, I only got eyes for you, Montana."

Lindsay stiffened a bit, but then relaxed when she heard the familiar nickname given to her on her first day.

"I'm thinking that might be Samantha Ting, the Treasurer?" he pointed to the girl waiting for the elevator. "Thinking what I'm thinking?"

The two made their way back to the elevator. Danny casually whistled and raised his eyebrows at Lindsay.

"Are you Samantha? Samantha Ting?" Danny asked.

Lindsay rolled her eyes. Real subtle, Messer. If that was the way he introduced himself to girls, she had no idea how he earned his 'player' title.

The Asian girl had a confused look on her face, "Yeaaah…I don't mean to be rude, but do I know you?"

Danny lifted his jacket briefly so that she could catch a glimpse of his badge, "NYPD, we're investigating the death of your friend, Jade Littlewood."

Samantha was so startled she almost dropped the expensive cell phone she was holding, "T-that's not possible! I just saw her l-last night!"

"When?"

"Around eight, I think. We were having dinner downtown at uh…Giordano's Pizza."

"Eight?" Danny hinted at Lindsay. "Really? Was Nick Buchanan with you also?"

"No, he said he would be out with Steve. Steve Banks. We invited him and Jordan, but he said he already had plans."

"Jordan? Lemme guess, Vice President?"

"Yeah, the four of us are pretty close. In fact, I was on my way to see Nick now, um, do you mind?"

Danny stepped aside, "Thanks for your time."

After the elevator doors closed, Danny faced Lindsay, "You hungry?"

"For Giordano's. One of their alibis isn't right."

**CSI:NY**

They sat in silence for the ride downtown, but this time, they seemed to be much more at ease with each other's presence.

Giordano's Pizza was warm and cozy inside, the exact opposite of the freezing temperatures outside. There were red booths with red leather chairs and the room was alive with talk and chatter.

"Waitress," Lindsay called as they stepped inside, shaking the rain off their jackets.

"Welcome to Giordano's. Do you two have a reservation?"

"We're not here to eat," Lindsay held up her badge. "Could you pull up the list of guests who ate here last night?"

"Sure, right this way please." The waitress led them back and punched a few buttons on the computer. "Anyone in particular?"

"A uh, Jade Littlewood or Samantha Ting?" Danny held up Jade's photo.

"Oh, yes, I saw those two come in with another boy. Here's their receipt."

"Do you remember what time they were here?"

"They came in at around…eight I think? The girl in your picture left a little after the rest ordered. The other two stayed until nine thirty."

"Thanks," Danny waved. "So…I'm thinking that Nick Buchanan is looking to be a pretty good suspect by now."

"Yeah…but we still need to go back to the evidence. What about the boyfriend? Steve Banks?"

Danny looked outside. Night had fallen, but the rain hadn't stopped. "Come on, Linds. We've gotten a lot done today. We'll go to the evidence tomorrow. Let's just eat here. Best pizza in the world."

Lindsay sighed. She couldn't resist. She'd tried so hard and she was like a spring wound too tight. All of that energy suppressed inside was now released, "Fine."

Danny grinned and called the waitress back, "I think we'll take that reservation."


	2. Thawing

Iceberg

_Danny looked outside. Night had fallen, but the rain hadn't stopped. "Come on, Linds. We've gotten a lot done today. We'll go to the evidence tomorrow. Let's just eat here. Best pizza in the world."_

_Lindsay sighed. She couldn't resist. She'd tried so hard and she was like a spring wound too tight. All of that energy suppressed inside was now released, "Fine."_

_Danny grinned and called the waitress back, "I think we'll take that reservation." _

**CSI:NY**

As the waitress led them to a booth in the back of the restaurant, Danny couldn't believe that he'd actually convinced Lindsay, the same Lindsay who had stood him up on a date, to have dinner with him!

They sat opposite each other and he could tell that she was nervous…but what she was nervous about, he wasn't sure.

"So tell me, is there anything on this menu that doesn't have the word 'deep-fried' or 'double-stuffed' in it?" Lindsay asked, her sarcasm evident.

"Aside from the drinks, nah."

Lindsay waved the waiter over, "Well then, when in Rome, right? A medium-sized double-stuffed 'Meat Eater' pizza…and a…large beer."

"Drinking, Montana?"

"I'm not the one driving us back," she said, handing her menu back to the waiter.

Danny chuckled, "I'll have what she's having."

After the waiter disappeared, they returned to sitting in an awkward silence… Danny felt like a cartoon that should've been twiddling his thumbs right about now. "So…how's…work been…and stuff…?"

Lindsay shrugged, "It's been okay. Just dealing with some things from the past… so do you think we should give Nick a call? Arrange a meeting for tomorrow?" she reached for her cell phone sitting on the table, but Danny stopped her.

"Come on, can we not talk about the case?" Danny asked.

She reluctantly drew her hand back, "I thought this was a business dinner."

"Okay Lindsay Monroe, whatever you say."

By the time the food finally arrived, all the tension between them was gone; the ice was melting at last.

"Mmm, this _is_ really good," Lindsay said with her mouth full after she took a bite of her pizza. It looked more like a pizza pie, but it was still delicious.

"Toldja," Danny smirked and took a swig of his beer. He hadn't had anything to eat except for some coffee in the early afternoon, but he didn't feel hungry. Of all the women he'd ever taken out on a date, he had never seen a single one order such massive portions and drink beer. But then again, none of his dates had ever tasted mealworm spaghetti or a fried tarantula before…

He completely forgot about the pizza in front of him and concentrated on Lindsay devouring her dinner, which he found strangely attractive.

"Aren't you going to eat that, Messer?" Lindsay asked, gesturing to Danny's uneaten pizza.

"Hell yes," he grinned and dug in. His appetite was working again.

As the night wore on, the two slowly adjusted back to how they used to be; laughing about past memories, gossiping about coworkers, discussing old cases; neither one of them had noticed how late it had gotten until one of the waiters came up to them and informed them that the restaurant was closing.

"You drive," Lindsay smirked, tossing Danny the keys and then hopping into the passenger seat.

"I'll drive you home," he offered.

"No, really, it's okay. I'll just take the subway!"

"No, you aren't. We can't risk you finding a body on the tracks!"

"Hey, as _I_ recall, it was _you_ who found the subway surfer, not me. I was—."

"At the opera, yeah, I remember," Danny grinned. He swore that she was trying to kill him, showing up at a crime scene dressed like that.

When Danny pulled up at Lindsay's apartment, he felt like he should lean in and kiss her, but this was supposed to be a 'business' dinner.

"Thanks for the evening out," she said, blushing slightly. "It was probably the most fun business dinner I've ever had."

Danny nodded, "See ya tomorrow…Montana."

Before she disappeared into her building, she flashed him one of those heart-stopping smiles and he almost jumped with joy. The iceberg that had stood between them for weeks was melting…slowly, but it was better than nothing. For once in his life, Danny couldn't wait to go to work tomorrow.

**CSI:NY**

"Montana, what do we got? Sid said we should meet him at the M.E.'s office ASAP, ready to go?" Danny announced the next morning. He'd gotten less than six hours of sleep, but the night before had been worth it.

"Yeah, sure…just trying to look up an address for a Steve Banks…he isn't in the system, but he is on Google," Lindsay said, still staring at the computer screen.

"Google? That's impressive."

"Yeah…apparently he's some sort of math and logic genius. Won a ton of awards for math competitions across the country. Really doesn't seem like a violent 'I'm going to kill my girlfriend and leave her body in a hallway' kind of guy."

Danny shrugged, "Do you have an address? We can go check it out after we see Sid."

"Right here," she picked up a piece of paper from the printer. "Come on, we don't want to keep Sid waiting. God knows what he'll be doing."

"It's not everyday that I get someone my daughter's age on the autopsy table," Sid sighed, placing his glasses around his neck. "Jade Littlewood was extremely healthy, as one would expect of a 17 year old girl. Cause of death wasn't blunt force trauma as one would think…it was a poisoning of some type…I sent stomach contents down to tox."

"Poisoning?" Danny asked. "Lindsay and I didn't find any trace of powders or ingestible items when we were there. Any needle marks? Anything?"  
"None," Sid sighed. "I wish I had more for you. But there are a couple more things…I found several cuts around her neck and some abnormal bruising all on her left leg."

"Domestic abuse? Any of it related to COD?"

"No…and the bruises seem to have been here for quite some time…it's not clear to tell where she got them from…Here is some trace that I collected from the head wound…seems like wood of some type…"

"Sid, are you sure those are cuts?" Lindsay pointed to the marks around the neck. "A suspect mentioned a boyfriend. Hickeys?"

"It's possible…although I've never seen anything quite like it," Sid put his glasses back on. "I remember when _I_ was in high school…I was on the lacrosse team, never did get many girlfriends--."

"Sid! Anything else?"

"No, just some trace that I already sent to the lab," Sid shrugged. "I'll let you know if I find anything else."

As they left the medical examiner's office, Danny shivered, "Eugh, can't imagine a high school Sid…so should we uh…pay another visit to Hathaway Prep?"

"Read my mind."

**CSI:NY**

Danny didn't like high school. He had been one of the lesser-known jocks; baseball hadn't been as popular as football. And in his senior year, in order to get into a good college, he'd become a bit of a nerd. Contrary to what people at the lab said, he hadn't achieved his 'player' status until he was twenty-one and above. He preferred college. High school, he hated.

"Let's see if we can find this Steve guy," he said to Lindsay. "You got a photo? They all sort of look the same to me."

"Yeah, here," she handed him an old newspaper article. In the picture was a brown-haired, a slightly geeky-looking boy. Looking up, they saw the same boy from the photo in front of them.

"Steve Banks? NYPD. Could you come with us please? We have a few questions to ask you."

"Jade is WHAT?"

"Dead."

Steve looked positively distraught, but Danny didn't believe him for a minute. The guy was a genius, could be a pretty good actor too.

"Where were you last night at around…8:30?"

"Wait, you guys don't actually think _I_ had anything to do with her death?" Steve gasped.

"Yeah, shocking right?" Danny stated flatly.

"She was my girlfriend! We loved each other! We've been dating since elementary school! Why would I kill her?"

"I don't know, Steve," Lindsay said. "She sure spends an awful lot of time with your friend, Nick Buchanan? Maybe you got jealous, had an argument…things got a little out of hand--."

"I would never kill her," Steve muttered, glaring at them both.

"Then you won't mind helping us prove that," Danny said. "Where were you last night?"

"With Nick…We had a few things to discuss." The bell rang and the halls were soon empty. "If anything, you should be talking to him. He and Jade spent more time together than I did with her…are we done here? I have class," Steve scowled.

"For now," Danny called out. Turning back to Lindsay, he shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know, Montana. This guy seems like a pretty good suspect to me. Girlfriend spends more time with his friend, gets jealous, takes the first thing he finds and whacks her with it? Sounds like motive to me."

Lindsay wrinkled her eyebrows in confusion, "It sounds plausible, but Sid said that COD wasn't blunt force trauma. It was poisoning, which means that her murder was _premeditated_, not an accident. And then there's Nick Buchanan, who we have yet to see again. His alibi didn't check out and he failed to tell us how close he was with Jade…so I say we go back to Nick, he seems to be our number one suspect."

Danny nodded and the two walked down the hall towards the door.

**CSI:NY**

They were back outside the door of Nick Buchanan. Lindsay knocked twice, but there wasn't any answer. Danny checked his watch; it was already 3:30…school should've been out an hour ago.

"Nick Buchanan? NYPD, open up!" he knocked again, his gun at the ready. Lindsay nodded and when there was no answer, he used all his force to kick the door down.

"Call 911!" he shouted as soon as they were inside. Sprawled face first on the ground was their primary suspect: Nick Buchanan.

Lindsay pressed both her fingers to Nick's neck; no pulse. "He's dead," she declared. Danny called off the paramedics and instead, phoned the coroner.

"Two dead teenagers in two days?" he asked, snapping on a pair of gloves. "Are we looking at a serial killer? Maybe someone's got a beef with the executives."

"Rigor hasn't yet set in," Lindsay said. "Vic's been dead less than 6 hours."

They both looked around at the apartment; the furniture seemed undisturbed and nothing appeared out of place or stolen. It seemed strange for someone to be murdered in the afternoon.

"Think I got something," Danny said while lifting a couple prints and swabbing DNA from different beverage glasses: ginger ale in a martini glass and an iced tea in a scotch glass. Rich kids.

"Same," she held up a crumpled photo that had been in the victim's hand. "Wait, Danny, come here. The faces have been scribbled off…must've really upset Nick." She dropped it into an evidence envelope.

Standing up, she gestured towards a door down the hall, "I guess we should take this to the bedroom?"

Danny did a double take. "_What?_"

Lindsay looked at him curiously, "Move _this_," she gestured to their open cases, "to check the bedroom for evidence."

"Right, right. Evidence," Danny nodded, "I knew that."


	3. Defrost

Iceberg

Iceberg

Talk about awkward.

Lindsay tried to focus on processing evidence but she couldn't stop wondering why Danny was acting so strange. Yesterday they'd finally gotten back to some semblance of normal but now that tension was back.

"Found anything yet?" Danny's breath was on her ear. He was kneeling down behind her and was looking over her shoulder.

She tried not to shiver and shook her head, "No. Uh…some possible DNA from the bed…"

"Hopefully it'll tell us who was in the sheets with our guy."

"Most likely not," she sighed. "These kids probably wouldn't even show up in the system. Parents would've bought their way out of anything."

"Yeah…Well, nothing seems to be out of place or anything. Couple of strange fibers in the living room, but other than that, nothing."

Lindsay nodded, "We should um…process the rest of the place."

She quickly got her kit and walked to the kitchen as quickly as she could without looking like she was running away. From who, Danny?

**CSI:NY**

They spent the rest of the day processing the apartment from top to bottom. They bagged the glasses they found on the coffee table as well as the drinks for testing back in the lab. Nothing much was found out of the ordinary except for a needle which had fallen under the couch.

It was nearly five o'clock by the time they finally got away from the Upper East Side and back to the lab.

"Yo, Monroe!" Danny's head popped into their office. "Sid wants to see us in autopsy. Got to go find out what killed our other teenager."

Teenager? Kid? _Their_ kid? "Wh-what?" she asked, confused.

"The victim? High school student? Autopsy with our resident Dr. Creepy?"

"Right, that. I know," she brushed past him and pressed the elevator button. She could feel him giving her a strange look and she just shrugged it off, "I'm fine."

He raised a questioning eyebrow as he joined her in the elevator.

"Seriously! Fine."

He opened his mouth to say something but shut it when the elevator doors opened again.

**CSI:NY**

"Second teenager in three days…" Sid muttered to himself. "What is happening to the world?"

Danny shrugged and gestured to the corpse on the table, "COD?"

"Pulmonary emphysema," Sid showed them a small puncture wounds in the back of his neck. "Your killer most likely injected him with some kind of poison or chemical. We're still waiting to get the blood back from tox."

"Thanks."

"Well, my guess is that the killer has been slipping him not that large a dose maybe once every two or three days. Probably didn't feel much until as of late. Whatever chemical the killer used caused the airways to become restricted and inflamed which made him hard to catch his breath."

"One to two _months_?" Danny asked incredulously. "And this guy just…didn't feel a thing?"

"Apparently so," Sid said as he clipped his glasses around his neck.

"Anything else?" Lindsay asked.

"Oh, yes! I did find some interesting scratch and bite marks on his back and shoulders. Difficult to say where he got them from."

"Mauled by a dog maybe?" Danny suggested.

Lindsay giggled and he grinned. Sid stared at the two with great interest.

"Sorry, Doc. Go on," Danny said.

"That's about it. Stomach contents from both your vics. I'll tell you if I find anything else."

"Thanks Sid," Lindsay took the two jars.

On their way out, Danny held the door open for her and she smacked into his chest trying to thank him.

Sid shook his head and chuckled to himself as they both bushed furiously, "Not that smart for a couple of CSIs."

**CSI:NY**

"Got anything Lindsay?"  
Lindsay. Not Montana. Lindsay sighed, "Nothing. I lifted some prints off one of the glasses but they're not a match to Jade or anyone else in the system. What about you?"

"Chemical used to kill Nick was…hydrochloric acid."

"Which is commonly used in…industries, pesticides, and tons of consumer products I could think of," Lindsay said. "Where does that get us? What kid would have access to an industry or loads of pesticide?"

"Wait a minute," Danny smiled. "It's also a chemical used in a lot of science experiments. Easily found in any school science lab. Burns your skin."

"So…we could be looking for someone who's taking a lot of science classes," she said. "Well that helps us…but we have no suspects to start with. The main one we had is now dead."

Danny sighed, "Nothing unusual came back on the stomach contents, and the fibers we found at the scene were a mixture of polyurethane and poly vinyl chloride."

"PU and PVC…synthetic leathers…but those are used for another dozen things."

"Yes, but these fibers are black and white…"

"So?"

"They're from a soccer ball."

"Now we're looking for someone who takes a bunch of science courses _and_ kicks around a soccer ball…yet we still have no suspects. Great," she sighed and blew a stray hair away from her face.

It was bad enough having to look at the body of a dead teenage girl more than ten times a day, but it was even more frustrating not being any closer in catching her killer.

"So where do we go from here?" she asked, partly to Danny about the case, partly to herself about their current relationship status.

"Not sure, Montana, not sure."


	4. Soften

Iceberg

Iceberg

Danny was exhausted. He'd been working all day, processing apartments, conducting experiments in the lab, waiting for results, and then only being disappointed when he hit a dead end with each of his leads. But the thing that irritated him the most was Lindsay.

She seemed to be struggling a lot with this case, just like she had with the mermaid one. He wanted to know what was going on with her, what was getting to her this badly. They used to be able to joke around at least, but still talk about the serious things. Now, the only things they were able to discuss were the case or their coworkers or the lab gossip, just as they had the night before.

He took off his glasses and rubbed his hand over his eyes, sighing. It was one in the morning and the subway car was practically empty except for a businessman with his nose buried in a newspaper and some passed out drunken college students.

Danny shut his eyes for a little peace and quiet, but only to get distracted by the hissing of the opening subway doors. The business-man got up and in walked a gorgeous blonde, alone, and she looked right at him and smiled. She walked over and Danny could hear the sound of her heels clicking on the ground.

"Hey," she grinned again, taking a seat next to him.

"Uhh…" he struggled to put on his glasses and sit up, getting a better look of her. She was pretty, no doubt about that. She was wearing skimpy clothes for the chilly October weather and her face was loaded with make-up. "Hi…?"

"I'm Jess," she extended her hand.

"Danny. Messer," he reluctantly shook it.

Her eyes looked him from head to toe, but stopped at his belt, "You're a police-officer?"

"Yeah, detective and crime scene investigator," he absent-mindedly scratched his head.

"Wow…" she placed her hand on his shoulder and leaned in so her mouth was close to his ear, "You must be so…brave…"

For a second, Danny allowed his mind to wander. It just so happened to wander to Lindsay Monroe.

**CSI:NY**

_"Danny…" she breathed against his ear. He shivered. That voice. That voice with that unforgettable soft, Western twang that he seemed to hear everywhere._

_He turned to face her. What he saw was she: her beautiful, angelic face and the curly tendrils that hung loosely around her head. She smiled at him. That charming smile that was sweet, but alluring at the same time._

_He shifted closer so that their faces were almost touching, He exhaled slightly, nervously, before he leaned in and caught her lips in a soft kiss._

_It was short, but romantic and sensual, and something he would surely remember. _

_Danny pulled back and smiled. He lightly ran his thumb over her barely opened lips, "Lindsay…"_

**CSI:NY**

"What?" Jess suddenly pulled away.

Danny snapped back to reality. His hand was still up and he was stunned. In Lindsay's place was that annoying blonde and she looked pissed.

"What?" she repeated.

"S-sorry…" he mumbled and drew back his hand. He turned back so that he was staring at the passed out college students sitting on the benches in front of him.

Jess threw her hands up in disbelief, "God! What is wrong with the men in New York City tonight?" She moved to the farthest corner of the subway car and started fiddling with her phone or whatever the hell was in her purse.

She immediately got off at the next stop, but not before turning back to look at Danny, "Lindsay…"

Danny raised his head, "What?"

"Tell her."

"Tell her what?"

"That you're obsessed with her, what else? Save the other single women in this city some pain, please."

With that, she walked out without another word, leaving Danny confused.

God, what was wrong with him? This wasn't like him. He didn't usually call girls he met and kissed someone he worked with.

He was so frustrated that he missed his stop.

Dammit.

**CSI:NY**

"Morning," she said curtly the next day.

"Morning," he grumbled as he pushed his glasses up his nose. He yawned.

"Late night?" Lindsay asked.

"Yeah…shift went late last night…"

She nodded and walked out of their office. Danny groaned as he saw that the DNA results for the biologicals he found in Nick's bed as an unknown female. He wasn't all that surprised that the other set of DNA belonged to Nick himself.

But then again, it meant that Nick had been seeing someone and they needed to find out who it was.

With this realization, he ran out of the office in search of Lindsay, finally having a reason to talk to her.

"Linds!" he called her name as he saw her in Layout, reviewing some of the photos. She looked up and smiled a small smile. He pushed the glass door open and stood across from her, holding out the results.

"DNA we found in the bed came back as a mixture of Nick's, not surprising, and an unknown female's," he announced. "I'm thinking that we should find this mystery woman, well, girl, and question her about this. Maybe she knows something."

Lindsay nodded, "Yeah, good idea. I…er…also had an assumption."

"What is it?"

She looked down at the table and stifled a giggle.

Danny instantly smiled, "What you laughing at Miss Monroe? You blushing?"

"No," she lied. "It's just um…" she coughed to regain her seriousness, "I uh…was wondering about those scratch marks we found on Nick's back."

"Oh yeah. Except they looked more like someone had seriously attacked him."

"Okay, well, I had a theory about how he got those," Lindsay bit her lip and looked down again.

"So what's got you all giggly about it then?" he asked.

"Well it uh…sort of…involves an experiment. With…you…"

"And that's embarrassing because…?"

"With you…shirtless…" she finished and burst out giggling again.

Danny couldn't help but flash one of his heart-stopping grins, "All you had to do was ask, Montana."


	5. Deliquesce

Iceberg

Iceberg

Danny nervously looked around the lab. It was 1:37 A.M.  
Lindsay had insisted on staying later as to avoid drawing attention to themselves and to not embarrass Danny. Not like he _would_ be embarrassed of flashing the whole lab. But then again, Lindsay secretly didn't want any of the other lab techs drooling or leering at him, even though he wasn't hers to hide.

He breathed a sigh of relief as he saw it was Lindsay coming around the corner with red paint. She grinned mischievously and was desperately fighting back giggles as she walked in, "I can't believe we're about to do this."

"Are you kidding? I don't even know what they hell you're planning to do to me!" he joked. "So…what's all this for?"

"Reconstruction," she said simply like it was perfectly normal to ask a coworker to strip at 1:37 in the morning.

Danny nodded, "Okay then Montana, now what? Do I take my shirt off yet?"

"Umm…" she bit her lip and turned around, fiddling to get the paint open, "Just wait, let me—…"

She turned around again and her jaw almost dropped to the floor. Before her, stood a half-naked Danny Messer.

He really was a _fine_ specimen of a man. His dog-tags still dangled around his neck and Lindsay had to literally wrench her eyes away from his perfect abs and stomach. Even his glasses looked sexier without his shirt.

"If I wasn't mistaken, I would think you're checkin' me out," he smirked, folding his arms over his chest.

"Yeah, right," she scoffed and continued trying to open the red paint. Finally getting it open, she squeezed some out onto her hands and got them under her nails.

Finally realizing what she was doing, Danny nodded, "Oh, so we're trying to see how Nick got those scratch marks on his back."

"Exactly. Took you a while to get there though. Anyway, turn around."

Danny did as he was told and finally felt the soft scrape of nails on his back. He shivered. He heard the click and flash of the camera.

"We got it?" he asked.

"Don't think so," she said. "It doesn't look like anyone would have any time to get his back that messed up without him noticing it. Let's try it from the front."

She got some more paint under her nails and this time faced him, leaned forward, and ran her nails down his back again. Her hands stopped right above his pants and her breathing almost stopped.

"Umm…camera, Monroe?"

"Right, sorry," she grabbed the camera and took a couple more snaps. "That somehow doesn't look right either. But I can't really think of any other way. I mean, the attacker would've had some difficulty coming at him from the side…and how could anyone not feel someone scratching up their back like that without any other defensive wounds?"

"Well…there is _one_ other way," Danny said unsurely.

**CSI:NY**

They ended up in Layout with a mattress lying on the floor.

"Trying to get me into bed, Messer?" she joked.

"Is it working?"

She looked down and blushed, "So um...what exactly are we going to do?"

"Sex," he replied simply.

Lindsay couldn't believe her ears. She'd never expected him to be _that_ straightforward.

"Relax, Montana, it's not like we're _really_ going to do it," he said, laughing. "We're just going to be…reconstructing it."

"Reconstructing sex?" she questioned.

"That's the idea. Now, seeing as no one has sex with all their clothes on and I'm already half-naked, I think it's only fair that you take off something too," he grinned.

"Oh, so you _are_ trying to be me, aren't you? Or is this blackmail?"

"Little bit of both. So strip, Monroe."

Two could play at that game. Lindsay sauntered so that she was standing right in front of him and began popping the buttons of her blouse one by one. Danny's eyes nearly skyrocketed out of his skull. He hadn't really believed that she'd actually do what he said.

He gulped, "Urm…."

"What? You wanted me to take off something. What's wrong with my shirt?" she asked innocently. Yes! Her plan was working!

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing."

She decided to torture him a little longer before getting more red paint under her nails. "So how do you want to do this?"

"You're on the bottom," he said. "Because its unlikely that the person with Nick scratched him from underneath. It doesn't really make sense."

This whole situation just didn't make sense. Lindsay couldn't believe she just agreed to take off her shirt _and_ simulate sex with Danny Messer. Wow.

She lay down on the bed and tried to breathe normally, but couldn't with a mouth-wateringly handsome detective standing over her. She took a deep breath and tried to speak, "So you coming down or what?"

He nodded and she could see that he too was nervous. But it wasn't like this was for anything other than their jobs, right?

Awkwardly, he climbed on top of her so that both her legs were between his and his face was hovering dangerously close above hers. His arms were on either side of her head, effectively caging her in, but she actually didn't mind their current position to her own surprise.

Think, Monroe, Lindsay thought to herself. Think reconstruction and evidence, not…this.

Finally forcing herself to focus, she hesitantly raked her nails down Danny's back a couple times and he sucked in a deep breath, unconsciously dropping his face even closer to hers than it already was.

She could see every defined feature on his face, and was currently staring back into those blue eyes that pierced into her very soul. She didn't know how she was getting oxygen to her brain given the current position she was in.

Lindsay lightly cleared her throat, "Uh…I think I should get the erm…camera now…"

"Oh right," Danny automatically got up, grabbed her hand and pulled her up…into his arms. Her hands flew to his shoulders and their lips were dangerously close together."

"Sorry," he said, but he didn't let go.

"Camera."

"Right, sorry. Again," he grabbed the Nikon behind him and handed it to her, then turned around. She took a couple snaps and then turned her back to him to put on her blouse again.

"Thanks for um…the help," she mumbled as she walked out of Layout and back to their office.

Danny groaned out loud and dropped back onto the bed in frustration.

**CSI:NY**

The two didn't see each other until the next day. Lindsay was already in Trace analyzing evidence when Danny walked in.

"Hey," he said as he got on a lab coat and came up behind her. "What're you doing?"

"Our little reconstruction worked. Our uh…last experiment's pictures matched the ones on our vic. Turns out you were right, Messer. For once." She threw him a smirk over her shoulder.

"So is that what you're calling this now? Reconstruction and experiments?" he asked, teasing her. He leaned in closer and whispered in her ear, "You know it was more than that."

Lindsay had to use every fiber of her being to not collapse back into him right then and there, but God what this man did to her! And deeper down, his words affected her more than he would ever know.

"Well…I got to thinking and went out on a limb and had Sid make a mold of each of Jade's fingernails. Then when I tried matching them up with Nick's photo, I got this," she showed him the photo with the microscopically matched up cast of their vic's nails.

"Nice work," Danny went immediately back into work mode, finally being able focus on something besides his personal issues. "But didn't Jade have a --…"

"Boyfriend?" Lindsay finished. "Yeah. So I'm guessing that he found out that his girlfriend and his best friend were sneaking around behind his back and got back at both of 'em. Love and sex adds up to murder."

Danny nodded, "I'll have Flack pick him up."

As he disappeared outside and waited for the elevators, Lindsay gaze lingered a bit too long on hi before returning to work.

_"It was more than that…"_


End file.
